Outcasts
by ShivaVixen
Summary: Introducing Characters for my next fic, which will be set in Red Witch's Misfit verse. A mutant thief, a human assasin, a cyborg hacker, an alien fugitive and others that the world has turned a blind eye to unite to survive.
1. Animal I have Become

**Animal I've Become**

"Be home by Eleven! And remember to keep your contacts in!" The girl's mom called as she watched her daughter take off down the street to visit a friend in need. She turned back to dinner.

The girl rolled her eyes at her mother's call. Pushing back the sudden desire to rip into something, anything. The urges had been becoming more and more frequent each year since puberty. She was good at holding them back. She rounded the cornor and froze when she found it blocked off by a nondescript white van.

"Hello, mutie, you're coming with us." The man that took a step forward had a grey camoflauge suit and a ski mask to match. "Get her." While the girl had been trained in martial arts, she wasn't sure of fighting against numbers like this, so she did the sensible thing and tried to run.

She didn't make it, and a taser knocked her unconscious.

She woke up, stiff, sore, and strapped to a lab table. The animal that she'd been holding back went nuts and she struggled to get free, breaking the metal hodling one wrist. A lucky punch to her eye knocked a contact out, revealing one golden eye. Similar to a tiger's, or any other large cat. A collar went around her neck, shocking her.

"It's mutation is physical and mental. We'll have to treat it like an animal to break it."

"Damping collars still unoperational, a shock collar will have to do."

Inside her mind, as the experiments and attempts at shocking her into submission continued, her animal mind began to take over. The non-sentience of the large cat began to erase her own mind, protecting her from breaking, giving into her captors wishes.

Eventually, all that was left of the girl she had been were her memories and her body. The inner cat had taken over, and that was how her mind would stay for a good long while.

She killed the men that held her. Her human mind had melded back into the cat, creating a hunter and fighter. She fought her way to the exit, killing all in her path. She barely remembered where she'd once lived. All that mattered was getting free and staying free. She escaped the prison, it was on the mainland.

Once she ate and bought clothes with cash she had stolen, she went into the shadows, living on a day to day bases, and hiding from the whoever it was that was hunting her.

_

* * *

_

She was adopted by a good family, a man and woman who wanted to help her.

_If only she could feel like they did. There was something else in her. An animal. It was her, but not quite. it didn't understand fear, it was only self preservation. _

_There was no love, only loyalty. Hate was useless, but it occasionally threw a temper tantrum, proving there was anger. She kept that part of her suppressed, never to see the light of day. It didn't fit her life._

_She was captured by men who wanted to mess with her DNA, and tortured. She used the animal to protect herself, keep her mind from breaking, but wound up erasing so much of her conscience in doing so._

_She was a mutant that could self heal, with animal instincts so deeply ingrained that she lost the feeling of being human. _

_If she ever broke the ties holding her to the right side of the law, people would die. She knew that. She knew how close she was to what others would say the thin line between sanity and insanity. _

_But while her head told her one thing, her lack of feeling told her something different. _

_And even for a mutant, that made her an Outcast._

* * *

She stole cash when she needed it, never things because she knew how precious they were. She gained several aliases for underworld contact purposes.

One was Wildcat, a woman who was willing to steal secrets, for a price. The other was one when she felt like being a good girl helping those who needed it.

Panthera . . .

**Okay, this is going to be a group of oneshots introducing some of the charcters for my next shot at a story. It will be set in Red Witch's Misfit verse. Partially because this group of characters doesn't quite fit into any story by themselves just yet. They'll be better explained in the actual story, but I wanted to introduce them, first.**

**Panthera is actually the genus of large cats, e.g. panthera tigris, for Tigers.**


	2. Thrill of the Night

**Thrill of the Night**

The boy cleaned and fixed the gun, grey trenchcoat carelessly tossed on the bed. He'd made several succesful hits this go round, though he'd tripped on the way home. Black eyes dulled a moment as he thought about what he'd just done. Killing off a man and his partners because they might have solved some medical trick to kill or cure mutants. He wasn't sure which. A knock at his bedroom door admitted his dad.

"Father."

"Good work, we've got another hit, I'm sending you out for it."

"Yes sir." He took the picture. The girl had dark hair, green eyes, and a slightly pale complexion.

He really should have realized that not every hit would be easy. The girl he was hunting was quick. She didn't stay in one place for very long. And she just didn't die.

He'd shot her twice, and each time she just picked herself up, acting like she hadn't got hit. He'd poisoned her once, and it just made her sleepy. Worse, she seemed to know he was hunting her, and actually made it into a game, leaving notes taunting him, even wearing a disguise and flirting with him. For a time, he enjoyed the game of cat-and-mouse, then he got yelled at for not completeing the job. He was okay at hand to hand combat, and there was a chance he could slit her throat or plant a bomb that could kill her.

The girl was better at hand to hand than he was. The two wrestled on the ground, He felt his knife cut skin several times, then he had her pinned. He saw cuts heal before his eyes. She just gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, surprising him enough for her to push him off and then pin him.

"Give up?" It sounded like she was purring.

"No." But she had him pinned good. " . . . maybe." She actually laughed at that. She let him up though. Then his mouth decided to go off before he thought. "That was an intersting fight . . . one side of my face experienced a kiss and the other was rubbed into the ground."

"Want me to fix that?" She was right next to him.

"I think I have an idea . . ." He kissed her on the lips. A screaming voice in the back of his head trying to remind him of the job. He pushed it away, he liked her to much, and it wasn't like she was going to die from anything he did. She broke it, and smiled, amused.

"I need some help. Want to join me?"

The romantic relationship never went beyond that first kiss, even though he wanted it to.

* * *

_The boy was a child in a family of assasins. He felt torn by what he learned in school and what he learned at home. _

_He learned though. _

_He learned how to lie about who he was, able to act the part he had to do._

_He leared how to kill without regret, not to think._

_He learned perfectly everything his father taught him. _

_But when he finally got a contract to take out a mutant that was a threat to the organization, he found out that not everything was so easy. _

_The mutant didn't die, from anything he threw at her. He couldn't understand that. _

_Somewhere during the hunt, he realized he'd fallen in love._

_Love was a mistake to any assaisn, especially if you fell for a contract. _

_But the girl was wild, dangerous, and untameable, free from the restraints he forced himself to live with. He felt whole with her around._

_He was a perfect human assasin, who fell in love with a mutant, and that made him an Outcast_

* * *

The boy joined the girl in her life, having no trouble following her, or arguing with her on problems he'd noticed with her ideas. He cut himself of from his family. He also came up with two aliases, though he actually had many more.

One was for his perfect record, and a nickname he had gotten from his cousins, One Shot. Because all he took was one shot to kill someone.

The other was for being backup to his lovely lady when she did the right thing.

Long Range . . .

**Okay, I'll admit, that was blatantly taking from G.I. Joe: Sigma Six. But I like the Long Range character from the show, and since he wasn't part of the orignal series, I felt safe with borrowing it and the guy's appearance for this character. This idea of an assasin trying to kill of a mutant that has unlimited regenerative abilites also made me think. Because it's kinda like Irresitible force verse immovable object, who will give first?**

**On a side note, These characters are based off Marvel characters.**


	3. Technical Difficulties

**Technical Difficulties**

The girl stared down at her robotic arm. It was a faily simple design.

"How does it feel, sweetheart?" Her mother looked at her with concern, as her father reviewed his clipboard. "Can you move it?" The girl concentrated on moving her arm, her new one. The fist clenched and unclenched, And she slowly moved her arm easily. She looked at her mom and smiled at her, waving the new appendage. Her mom's eyes suddenly brimmed with tears as she grabbed her daughter in a bear hug. "We have to wait for your body to adjust to your new arm before we can attach the legs, baby."

"Okay mom . . . I trust you." Neither noticed her father visibly stiffened. "I can't wait to walk!"

Can't wait to walk. If she could walk, she could have ran when the men came and killed her mother, and then Kidnapped her away from home. Her father had sold out to some company for his work in robotic limbs. She didn't even remember half of what happened to her, and the memories of who she'd been before were practically erased from the trauma she received of having much of her body turn to metal. She wasn't a mutant, She couldn't heal the damage done to her.

She lost her memory, and then they decided to work on someone else, labeling her a failure. She was thrown into a Junkyard, and left to die. She didn't though, instead she moved so she could hook into a powerline, and began to conduct buisness. She couldn't move from her hidden spot, but she could use the phone lines to hack into any computer she wanted, and then find someone who wanted the information so she could sell it, having created her own bank account via hacking into a bank. She didn't need to eat much.

"Well, you look like a piece of modern art." A girl and a boy stood there. "Who did this to you?"

"Don't know." The girl shivered from the cold. The boy covered her with his jacket.

"Want to come with us? We can find a better place than this."

"Please." The girl picked her up.

_She didn't know who she had once been, before the machines and scientists were standing over her._

_She was unare of parts of her body being removed, and then replaced with wire and other mechanical and bionic parts. _

_She didn't know who made her, only that she was an error. _

_She learned how to use her now patrially metallic body to survive. _

_She learned how to hack through firewalls and collect data to sell. _

_She didn't learn what she was doing was wrong- How could she? No one told her otherwise, and it was the only way she could survive. _

_She was a mistake, a human coupled with a machine that wasn't strong enough as per her creators specifications. _

_She was cyborg that broke rules becuse she had no other way to survive, and that mader her an Outcast_

The girl trusted the two, they taught her how to walk with her robotic legs, helped her get dressed when she needed it, and helped her figure out how to care for herself.

Online, she gave herself the name of Databank, an untraceable broker of communication.

In real life, she enjoyed the name the others had called her.

Techno . . .

**Moving right along. Techno is based off a friend of mine who's good with computers. She currently one of my favorite original characters to date. (Actually, most of these characters I make up are actually taken from people I know, and what superpowers they said they wanted. (or didn't want, in the case of Long Range's creation. He's a mix of a friend of mine and the sigma six character, actually.) As to my friend, She just said someone good with technology, hope she doesn't kill me for making her a cyborg.) Techno is the last one that has two codenames, but since one's online, I don't think I should count it . . . Anyway, some of the later chapters won't have the italics, and the last one will be the prologue for my actual story.**


	4. Interstellar Policemen

**Interstellar Policemen**

The bridge of the ship was quiet, the pod was eagerly anticipating the signal to attack.

All but one female who was instead looking at the all the satelittes decorating the planet's sphere.

She was a high spawned warrior, she'd done countless missions before. The female had been part of the spy team that had gotten information on the planet before reporting in. She found the excessive killing to be a waste.

The planet was a violent one, and so many war causers had come from this planet, true. And it was their duty to put an end to the crimes.

But the female didn't want to hurt anything anymore. She just wanted to understand how things worked, which was inapropriate for a warrior.

The Alpha sat on his chair, about to give the order to attack. Her hand went to the gun at her side. The female would not let another world be destroyed because of misdeeds and their unawareness of universal law.

The words that left her mouth was similar to a whale song, and then she started shooting. The ship wound up crashing into the ocean of the world they'd been about to attack. The female escaped the ship as it sunk, enjoying the water that was similar to her own, aquatic, home planet.

She made it to a main land and then took the form of a passing girl. Then she began to explore the mainland she had landed on.

Someone knew about her though, and they were trying to attack her, capture her.

She fell on the ground, clumsy on land, and stared into the lights of the men who were trying to capture her. She lost the form of the innocent blonde, returning to her true form.

"Back off, bastards!!" Something attacked the men, and a creature made of halfmachine helped her up. She was surrounded by the half machine, a girl, and a boy. "You okay?"

_She wanted to explore for the sake of exploring, not for planets to conquer. _

_She'd been bred to be a warrior, but she always felt a curiosity for the people she was told to kill. _

_She'd been one of the best to be bred an to survive the harshness of her own planet, so her curiosity was a liabilty. _

_It finally came to a point, and she didn't back down from it._

_She refused to kill anymore new worlds._

_She killed her comrades instead. Stranding herself on a new world- She disguised herself as one of them, she delved so deep into the culture of the world she lived on that she disapeared into the false self. _

_But She couldn't escape what she really was. _

_She was an Alien who killed her own comrades acting as a human where she would never be accepted. That made her an Outcast._

The group accepted her as she was, understanding, and patient when she made a mistake or didn't understand an earth concept. It was strange to realize that in some ways, they didn't know how to pass as normal either.

She was the only one who had just one name, though.

Marina . . .

**Maybe I should mention that the full extent of what they can do will be mentioned in the actual story? Especially in Marina's case. This is just a introduction. A couple of the chapters are probably going to be alittle vague, and some of them won't make sense, though I'll try to explain it as best I can.**


	5. Interlude

**Interlude**

(dedicated to RogueFan KC and to another friend of mine who started this line of thought.)

The wharehouse was old and decrepit, barely standing. No one bothered with going in, or messing with it. Which is just as well. It would have made getting into the basement just as hard to do. As no one ever went in, no one knew that it even existed.

The basement had once had the office of the night watchman, equiped with couches, a desk and a computer with modem. It was there that a sall group of teenagers made their home. Well, three teenagers, and one alien, to be exact.

Marina had disovered several boxes in one cornor of the closet. Inside were thin little booklets that Panthera had told her were comic books. Marina had then claimed one of the couches as hers, and began reading the comics. Techno had a comfy armchair, and was staring at a wall as she stayed plugged into the phone line, playing with the internet and hacking into other data bases. Long Range had another chair, and was cleaning his gun. All the while sneaking glances at their unofficial leader, who was strecthed out on the other couch. Her eyes were closed, but they all highly doubted that she was actually sleeping. She had an eerie habit of waking up exaclty when someone touched a doorknob. Or talked about her.

Back to Marina and her comic books. Marina had a facination with all earth culture, especially art. Which often lead to interesting (and slightly embarrasing) questions that sometimes made Long Rang flee the room. (He can take out other assasins, he didn't bat an eye when someone get disembowled, but there was no way in hell he was sticking around while Panthera tried to explain tampons.) Most of the time, she kept quiet, but that didn't mean she didn't think. Like right now for example.

Allow this little preface: Marina had no eyelids, therefore could not blink, she did have a little sort of transparent lid that was used to protect her eyes or wipe stuff out of her eyes, but she couldn't blink. She also had no concept of staring, so it was sometimes eerie to look up to meet her purple eyes.

Marina had just finished a batman comic, one where he faced of against Catwoman, and found herself studying her new Alpha. There were a lot of differences between the female of her planet and the females of earth. For one thing, their chests. While Marina had slight curves, they were not as pronounced as Panthera's or even Techno's. Of course the benefit of that was Marina could cut through water faster than any human, especially female, since the pronouced chest created drag. On her planet, she was one of the most beautiful, but here . . . well, she was definetly second fiddle to a lot of females. She also wasn't quiet as tall as her leader, barely breaking Five feet. Which was tall back on her planet. Here she just looked like a kid. But those thoughts were taking a backseat to her current thought patterns.

"Hey, what's your secret identity?" Marina watched as one eye opened, looking at her. "I know you have two codenames, but what's your real name? I told you mine." Not that they were able to pronounce it, thanks to the fact her language was a lot like whale song.

Panthera considered the question, before attempting to ignore that it had ever been presented. Marina decided to take action and pounced on Panthera, knees going into her stomach, making both eyes snap open. Marina was still unaware of the concept of personal space, and had trouble understanding the hype on Het, Homo or bi-sexual relationships.

"Nuh-uh. You have to answer." Marina put her face right infront of Panthera's. Techno changed her attention from her internal computer to the two, while Long Range paused in cleaning his gun. "C'mon, Panthera, you have to have a real name." Gold eyes boredly met purple ones.

"Which one do you want to know? My birthname, or my adopted one?"

"Four names, isn't that a bit much?"

"This coming from the guy who has ten aliases? Twelve countin the codenames he's using right now?"

"Point."

"Whatcha mean, adopted?"

"I was adopted when I was five, and they changed my name. Thought I was too injured to know that wasn't my name." Panthera scowled at the mention of her former life, she hated it. "I don't know what my birht name was, but someone in my adopted family does."

"Well, then tell us your adopted one then."

"Naomi. Naomi Hunter." Panthera took a deep breath as Marina got off her stomach. "Why do you look disapointed?"

"I was kinda hoping it was Selena Kyle." Marina flopped back onto her own couch. "You kinda act and look like her."

"Panthera in black leather with a whip . . . I could see that." Long Range wisely ducked the pillow. "I'm joking!" He picked the pillow up. "We need some Hombres for me to play with, you senoritas have me outnumbered."

"Alright, I told my name, your turn." Panthera looked at her friend.

"It's Alejandro. Alejandro Garcia." He smiled. "Not very thrilling huh?"

"So, can we call you Alex for short?"

"Sure." He noticed Techno's robotic eye dim. "Something wrong, Senorita?"

"I wish I remembered my name."

"Well, then, how's this- Alison Hunter." Panthera settled back into her former position. "You can be my sister."

"How'd you come up with that?" Panthera didn't answer. "No one falls asleep that fast!"

"I like it . . ." Techno smiled.

"Why'd you ask, Marina?"

"Just curious . . . that and I thought you're kinda like batman." Techno started to hook back into the internet, smiling.

"How so?"

"You can make all those cool weapons! And you're the only full human of this group." Marina never quite understood the humans, especially their facial expressions. Long Range just looked amused as he finished his gun.

"I don't think it's making them when I just add attachments to my rifle." Longe Range smiled at the alien girl, disguised as a petite blonde. If he hadn't know she was a warrior from her own planet, he'd just assume she was an innocent kid. "Besides, shouldn't you be reading that history book? It explains humans better than those comic books."

"But I like the comic books."

"I know, but comic books aren't real, they're fiction." Long Range moved to clean his silencer attachment.

"I know . . . but wouldn't it be cool if they were real?" Marina smiled at him, and he just returned it.

"Si, Senorita . . . but not in this universe." For about an hour there was silence, then-

"Hey, Panthera, did you know there's a character named Wildcat in the Justice League?"

"No."

"There is, and he's a guy."

"Fascinating. I'm not changing my codename. Especially since BlackCat is taken by that woman in New York."

"I'm just saying."

**I actually didn't know Wildcat was a DC character. Up until RogueFanKC reviewed. Then a friend of mine was talking about a story he thought I should read, (It's a Justice League fic, I can't remember the name) and I found Wildcat mentioned in a list of heroes that were apparently in the cafeteria. I'm mostly a Marvel type girl, and the most of DC I get has been from watching sporadic episodes of the Justice League (last one I saw fully was apparently one during the first season) and the recent Batman movies. (and the Catwoman movie, which I enjoyed. I know a lot of people didn't like it, but I did, especially the sushi scene with her and the detective.) Also when one group of friends gets together, cause a good portion of them are DC fans. **

**Oh, and from reading some of RogueFanKC's fics. But I doubt it counts.**

**Next up is a character I'm not going to bring in to the actual story until halfway in. I don't know why I'm introducing this guy now-**

Panthera: Cause you're stuck on all your other stories and need to clean some of this stuff off your computer? Or the fact that you can't actually get your outline for our story done cause you keep writing scenes that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot?

**Okay, I'll introduce another character next. How about Un-**

Panthera: Again, that character isn't coming in until halfway through. Seriously, get your thoughts straightened out and stick with an idea. You've already got three different versions of how we meet the misfits, and while similar, you need to get something set. You've got Twenty four fics, and about six of them are working stories. Two of them are just going to be collections of oneshots, so I won't count those, but you still need to get something done! How about one of those Naruto fics? That uber short one you're working on, you seriously only need two, maybe three, chapters and you can end it. End or put a story on hiatus before you actually work more on this fic!

**I don't recall making you that bossy of a character.**

Long Range: Considering you modeled her after yourself, I'm going to guess you gave her all your responsibilty.

**Excuse me while I plan a slow painful death for Long Range.**

Long Range: You need me for the story! You can't kill me off!

Techno: While Long Range and ShivaVixen argue, you can go ahead and Review. Or recommend a good Asylem for our author . . . Asylum, Aslym . . . How do you spell that?

Marina: You got it right the second time. I think we should help One of those two- Ooh, Comic Book!

Panthera: I can already see the train wreck coming . . . and our story hasn't even started yet! Good night!


	6. Slam

**Slam**

"Crap." The boy recovered from crashing into a wall. He was listed at legally blind, but that didn't do much for him. It didn't change the fact that it wasn't that he **couldn't** see, it was the fact he could see everything! An after image of someone walking, lights that glowed around a person when they spoke, showing their emotions. But he couldn't catergorize any of it, not with struggling to see what was really there and driving himself crazy. And no one believed him when he told him what he saw.

CRASH!

"Oomph!!" His leg had caught on a real table leg, and he had just face planted into a girl's chest. He was either going to die quickly or slowly. "Watch it! Can't you watch where you're going?"

"Er . . ." He could see the red permeate the air. "No, not really . . . I'm uh, Legally blind."

"Oh?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Then why do you not have a cane?"

"I dropped it somewhere- look, I'm sorry for landing on you, but could you let my arm go?" Jeeze that grip was tight.

"That would be my boyfriend."

"Oh . . ." _Hell_. "Uh, Sorry, I really didn't see her, and I didn't mean to fall on her, and could you please not kill me?" Someone else giggled and he tried to shift through the images of people to see who it was. He thought he saw blonde hair but he wasn't sure. Then he tried to focus on whoever it was holding his arm. It took a minute, but it wasn't that hard to see him. He wasn't colored with all the colors as everybody else. To put it plainly, the guy was tall . . . and in control of his emotions. Everything else was just background noise. "Hey . . . I can kinda see you . . ."

"Well if you're just legally blind Hombre, I imagine you'd be able to see us a bit." The grip relaxed. "Want to join us for lunch? Or do you have other things to crash into?"

"I'd love to . . . what are you eating?"

"Pizza. It's a pretty safe type of food." As he sat down, he tried focusing on the girl, the blonde, next to him. She too wasn't quite as colorful as the background, like a smear of black on a rainbow colored tarp. But he still got an after image with her of something else. Finally he focused back on the girl he'd crashed into. He could see her through the haze of countless meals at the table, and she was almost as stark as the others. "You're staring."

"I know, it's just-" Before he could stop himself, he was telling them about his vision, what it was like, and ow he had trouble with all the colors and the images that floated around, making it difficult to see what was really there.

"Where's your family?"

"They moved. Left me behind, since I was too much trouble."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, My neighbors told me." He helped himself to the pizza.

"Well . . . would you like to stay with us then?" The offer came from the girl he had crashed into.

"I guess . . ."

"We can help you out a bit." That offer came from the blonde.

"Might as well . . ."

The place they led him to had it's history almost faded, and another blank slate. It was the first time he could actually see without the colors and layers all over the place, though they weren't all gone.

_He'd grown up with seeing double images and things that no one else saw. _

_He'd grown up with tripping on imaginary things and trying to avoid glittering shadows._

_He tried to pass it off as blindness and the need to wear glasses. _

_He couldn't explain his uncanny ability to know who was lying and who wasn't. _

_Because he didn't realize he was seeing auras and the spots where people died, of all sorts of reasons._

_So when he met someone who knew what he was going through, he latched on to them, not caring who it was._

_He was an Esper that could see things that no one else could, and didn't quite understand it all. That couldn't see the world like everyone else. He was an Outcast._

He tried to get his power under complete control, but failed each time. He couldn't go out in crowds, or places full of life, because then he would be overwhelmed. But he could focus on his new friends.

His birthname was Hugo Brighton, but his friends came to call him Crash. Because he unfortunately didn't seem to always see walls or objects on the ground.

CRASH!!

"Crash!"

"Is there an echo around here?"

**I'm not sure how this character came into existense . . . he kinda just showed up one day and crashed into the story. (Okay, that was a bad pun.)**

Panther: Ya think?

**Hey, at least I admitted it.**

Long Range: When I said I wanted another guy around, I was kinda hoping it would be someone with braincells, not someone who's knocked his brain around so much he's lost it.

Crash: Hey!! And Why can't I control my powers anyway? And what's with the lame name?- and don't you dare ignore the question!

Techno: She's not, she just hasn't come up with a good enough reason yet, she's stuck between two, and you get a better name when you get in control of your powers.

Long Range: She's always stuck on something. She can't decide whether or not to edit the first four chapters of this intro.

**At least I'm working on it! And I got the start of the story ironed out too, so I just have to finish this one and a few other short stories of mine, and we're in the clear for this one to actually start.**

Panthera: Great, now we have a character that's a hazard to himself, a comic book loving alien, an amnesiac . . . would we call Techno a cyborg? Oh well. Not to mention a teenaged assasin and a emotionally stunted mutant. And a couple characters you're still working on as surprises for during the story. You're setting this up to torture us aren't you?

**Just wait for the next chapter, I'm introducing who's going to be the 'mom' of this group. Snickersnicker.**

Long Range: You were right, you **can** see the train wreck coming.

Panthera: And you know it's going to get worse when the misfits actually do enter the story. Although I'm going to enjoy some of it.

Crash: You would. Considering it's you being violent on some poor misfit.

**Yeah, while writing the actual story I discovered Panthera and a certain misfit can't be in the same room with out her snapping. It's going to be painful. **

Panthera: Correction, it's going to be fun! Even if you do mess with my character a lot.

**Get use to it. Anyways people, read and review, and maybe I'll be saner the next time I post. Keyword 'Maybe'.**


	7. This Year

This Year

Click-clack. Click-clack. The keyboard to the computer was idly having it's buttons pressed as the woman in front of it tried to figure out a mission she wanted to do.

Zarana sighed as she glanced at the clock. She'd been up for five hours, and for once there was no one else in the lair. Zartan and the Dreadnoks were doing something for cobra, Zandar was doing something for Cobra, and Zanya was doing a solo mission for some senator that wanted someone else taken care of.

_Well, I could try setting up a rendevous with Mainframe at some out of the way hotel . . . _Zarana shook her head and sighed. Anytime she thought about Mainframe, Zartan's taunt from so long ago came back.

'Why don't you quit the Dreadnoks and marry that joe, move to the suburbs, have kids.' And a part of her wanted to do that, so very badly. For one thing, Zartan was the one that had a kid before her, and while Zarana may have occasionally bitched about it, she had enjoyed some of the times she held Zanya, rocking her to sleep. Her own biological clock was ticking.

_Why do I even stay here?_ Originally, it was loyalty to her brothers that kept her- then Zanya's mother came and zarana had almost left then and there because the woman was about as polite to her as Mystique- no wait, Mystique was a neat freak and occasionally did the cleaning herself when she couldn't stand it, Zanya's mum tried to make her into a live in servant- except that skank gave birth then ran off with Thrasher, and Zarana once again felt compelled to stick aroung and help her two brothers raise the little girl, especiall since there was no way the two idiots would have been able to do anything once she hit puberty (She had fond memories of coming home and finding all the men rushing around in a panic because they had no clue what to get Zanya). Now Zanya was a well adjusted teenager and there really was no reason to stick around. Cobra had hit an all time low with world domination plans, and honestly she highly doubted they were even considered a major threat, with Magneto and other terrorist mutants running around. She could take off and just disapear, leave a note saying she was leaving for good and just go.

_So why am I still looking for a mission to do?_ Zarana sighed again and then stared at the report on Zandar, where he was. She frowned. There was something off about where he'd gone to report for the mission briefing- _That's Dr. Mindbender's mutations lab!_ Zarana sat up straighter. _Well, one of them anyway . . ._ Zarana glanced at the date and swore. Her brother had been gone way to long for a chemical run, and he hadn't checked in since. Her intuition was screaming at her to call up Zartan, but she shut it down. Zartan always double checked their missions, he'd have known where Zandar was . . . he wouldn't have okayed it if . . . _Don't think about it, I've got to verify this for myself. If worse comes to worse, I can run to the joes and start telling them everything I know about cobra- hello, what's this?_ Zarana clicked on a file of 'possible new contacts' An assasin and a thief piped up, as well as an online information holder. _Well, I believe I just found some allies . . . if I can get to them before Zartan. _In less than an hour, she was packed and leaving the base.

"The Wildcat and One Shot are teenagers?" Zarana stared at the two teens, trying to figure out what she hit her head on.

"Hey, it's not like we said we weren't. Besides, no one really pays attention to kids." Wildcat spoke, an amused purr in her voice.

"Do you know what you're doing- if you get caught . . ." _And what about Zanya, smart one?_

"We know. But what else can we do? I go legit, and I get taken back to my foster parents."

"And my father kills me for betryaing the clan."

"I know the feeling." Zarana sighed. "Look, I need your help, and I'm also kinda on the run. I can probably pay you if we ever get to Chicago."

"You don't smell bad to me." Zarana watched as the girl tilted her head, something about her face reminding her of someone she knew. "I think we can trust you. C'mon." Zarana followed the two teens through the night, and then frowned as they led her to the place they lived.

"You live here-" Zarana jerked as she saw three other kids in the room.

"Hey, fearless leader, you get any-" Crash!! The other boy got up and tripped over a endtable. "Ow. Who's with you?"

"Her name's Zarana. A Mercenary. A member of a mercenary band called the dreadnoks. Shall I continue?" Zarana jerked again as she saw a robotic eye looking at her from the face of a young girl.

"Nice, Techno, way to give the lady a heartattack."

" . . . This is an odd sort of group." Zarana sat down on a couch.

"That's cause it's made out of people that no one else would understand." One shot smiled. "With the exception of Crash, we're all very capable fighters and infiltrators."

Zarana couldn't reply.

"You said you wanted our help?" Wildcat reminded her.

"Yes, I need to infiltrate a cobra lab . . . possible experimentation on mutants-" Wildcat shifted. "I think my brother's in trouble . . . and I think my other brother knows. I have to find out for myself." Zarana felt out of place, looking at the kids. But another part of her felt strangely at home. "Can you help?"

"Sure . . . think you can pass as a mother chaperoning teenagers? We've got a van."

"No problem." Zarana smiled. Before she really knew what was happening, she found herself watching over the teens as they got information and began to hunt for Zandar. In some strange way, she was the mom of the group, though Panthera had more sway in the way things worked.

She didn't regret becoming an Outcast. Becausing in leaving the dreadnoks and cobra, that's what she did to herself.

**Yeah, I don't really know what I was thinking with bringing Zarana into the group, but most of my reasiong was in the story. I hope I explained it right . . . if not, then I can flesh it out better in the story. Near the end my muse decided to take a vacation.**

**Why Zarana?**

**Well, originally the story was the teens were found by the joes and Jinx became the 'mom' of the outcasts. But I wanted to do more with the Zarana/Mainframe pairing, so it became Zarana helping the group and being with it when they get discovered by the joes. This, despite my intentions on being just a set of One shots, has now turned into a short story. I'll probably be re-editing the first few chapters a bit to fit that, but don't hold your breathe, I'm a bit lazy when it comess to re-editing.**

Panthera: Yeah, you should see some of her original stories, She fixed the begining on one, but the middle is still junk, especially when she changed the story a bit.

**I have a long term memory problem, especially with names. It took me a week to remember the girl who sits next to me in history class's name. And I still mess it up. Or maybe it's a short attention span, anything that runs too long becomes boring to me. Especially papers.**

Techno: Translation- if she can't get a story down right away, you can forget it actually happening. On a side note, she actually put a story on hiatus, thanks to the fact she really has no clue what happened to the plot she started with and can't find her outline.

**Yeah . . . me and the never ending plot bunnies. I have so much junk and pathetic stories on my computer, it's kinda a shame I can't post them all . . . I'm sure someone could actually use the plots for something . . . maybe a bonfire?**

Panthera: considering you went through a dark twisted phase, I think a bonfire is a good idea, some of those stories were _way_ to dark- someone would have thought you were emo if you actually posted those. You should really delete those things. You haven't touched them since you wrote them.

**Oh, yeah, forgot about those . . . although it's not my fault, some of them were inspired by someone telling me about a horror movie and I was just messing around with some of those ideas . . . **

Techno: You hate horror movies.

**I hate watching them, but I could probably write them. It's a big difference between reading something on paper than watching or hearing something happen.**

Long Range: You've gotten off track again. Go lie down somewhere. Like a shrink's couch.

Marina: Please Read and Review while our author reviews her stories and starts trying to organize them into something more manageable. Like the recycle bin.


	8. Who let the Dogs out?

**Who let the Dogs out?**

Mutt idly strolled through the streets of the beachside city, with little to no Cobra activity Duke had allowed some groups to go on leave. The misfits were in Hawaii, Lifeline and Bree had disapeared for their second honeymoon, Scarlett and Snake Eyes were in Japan for a martial arts tournament, Flint and Lady Jaye were visting their daughter, and all the other joes were scattered around the world checking on sea bases (Deep Six and Torpedo) Artic bases (Iceberg and Snow Job) and all the other bases around the world. Junkyard wagged his tail as they turned to head back to their hotel. And the group they were with.

_How Duke convinced Beach Head to join us is beyond me, I never thought that guy was capable of vacation time._ Mutt stopped as they passed a dumpster. Quiely listening. There it was again, the sound of a whimpering animal. With Junkyard next to him he looked into the dumpster. There was very little trash, and there was a tiny form moving in it. Mutt hopped in, carefully, to avoid hurting the- "Baby?" Mutt stared at a baby, about the age of Shipwreck's youngest. Very carefully he picked up the baby, and had to hold his breathe from how bad the kid smelled. It had bandages wrapping its head. Mutt got out of the dumpster, noting with displeasure now he was dirty. He stared at the kid a momment. The hotel would be closer than the hospital, he'd get the kid clean first.

Luck was with him as Beach Head was no where in sight. Neither was Leatherneck Wetsuit or Dial Tone. He very quickly got to the master bathroom in the suite he shared with Dial tone. Carefully he began undressing the kid, and throwing the clothes right into the trash. Before he took the diaper off, he unwrapped the bandages around the baby's head. Then he stopped. Underneath the bandages were two dog like ears, both trying to be straight up, but they were mostly floppy. When he removed the diaper, trying not to puke (He'd cleaned up after puppies that he'd housetrained, this was nothing new) He found a small whippy tail. And the fact that it was a girl he was undressing.

The little girl whimpered and Mutt frowned to himself. He couldn't use the sink, that would be cruel to her tail, and the bathtub was much to big . . . she'd wind up stting in dirty water.

"Shower it is, little one . . . I hope to god none of the others find out a bout this." Mutt sighed, and quickly undressed himself as he got the water to a warm temperature. He needed a shower anyway and said shower was big enough for two people. He was lucky he had some baby shampoo that he sometimes used on Junkyard. The dog followed the two into the shower, curious about the little one.

The girl whimpered and tried to crawl over Mutt's shoulder, away from the water.

"Hey, easy, little one . . ." Mutt started to talk to her as he washed her hair, being careful with her ears. "You must've been in that dumpster for a while weren't you? You're ribs are starting to show . . . who could possibly want to throw you away?" He started to talk to her like he would do a puppy, and her little ears perked up."There you go, all clean." He wrapped a towel around his waist and quickly dropped a towel over Junkyard as he wrapped the little one in a towel. "There you are . . . we need to get you a diaper and some clothes . . ." The little girl giggled as Junkyard, partially dry, hopped up next to her in the bed. She gigled a bit louder as he sniffed her head. "What have I gotten myself into?" Mutt quickly got dressed.

"Mutt!" Beach Head's voice boomed, scaring the little girl. Mutt quickly shushed her.

"What?" he opened the door a crack to see the others. "Is there something wrong?"

"Only that one of our bags isn't ours, we wound up with one of Shipwreck's baby travel bags." Beach Head was annoyed. "You were the one in charge of luggage, how did that get here?"

"I have no idea, but it's a godsend right now." Mutt opened his door all the way to reveal the little girl with Junkyard on his bed. "Found her in a dumpster." Mutt snagged the bag and quickly went back in, he had to double check before he could cut a hole in the diaper for a tail, and then he put her in one of the boy's shirts. When he glanced up, he saw all four of them staring at him. "What? I wasn't going to just leave her in a dumpster, poor thing was crying."

"Mutt . . . have you lost your mind?" Beach Head was staring at him as he gently picked up the little girl to dry her hair and some of the patches of fur.

"Mutt, remember when I was joking about how much you love dogs?" Wet Suit tried another approach. "You know, when I said you'd probably marry one? I'm pretty sure that would be the result." Mutt still sat on the bed, staring at them.

"You can't keep her-" Dial Tone offered. Junkyard growled at him. "I mean, you aren't married . . . do you even know how to care for a baby?"

"Shipwrek's not married, and he's doing a fine job of raising his kids. Even if they are crazy." Mutt rubbed the little girl's head. "Besides, she needs help, an no one else would adopt her because of her looks."

" . . . You've got a point."

"Hey there little one . . ." Leatherneck tried to pet her head, but she whimpered and grabbrd onto Mutt. "Shouldn't she be walking?"

"There's something wrong with her back leg. She won't even use it to crawl." Dial tone noted as she crawled to Junkyard. "Might want to get her to doc."

"I guess . . . Beach Head?"

"I'm setting up the video now." Dial Tone moved away as He set up a laptop with a camera.

"Duke here, how's your vacation going?"

"Uh, alright sir . . . but we've hit a snag . . . "

"What is it, Dial Tone?"

"Well-"

"I found a baby." Mutt sat on the couch with the little girl. Somewhere behind Duke something went crashing to the floor.

"I'm okay!" Mainframe's voice was muffled.

"Mutt-"

"Duke, She was in a dumpster and her leg's hurt! No one else would want her!" Mutt held her as she shifted around, curious.

"Maybe you should adopt her, she's your type of kid." Quick Kick quipped from off camera.

"Can I?" Everyone, on both sides of the line, stared at Mutt. There was the sound of something dropping and Mainframe gave a muffled yelp, trying to not to curse after dropping his chair on his foot. He was not having a good day.

"I guess so, but it'll be awhile for us to get you back to base, Mass device is down and Wild Bill is in Texas with the other fliers." Duke sighed. "So untill then take care of her, okay?"

"You got it Duke!" Mutt happily kissed the baby girl on her head. The little girl's tail started to wag as she went off Mutt's smile. Duke smiled as he cut the link, wondering why Beach Head hadn't objected. (He'd passed out when he heard Mutt ask to adopt the kid.)

"We need to get clothes for the little one." Wet Suit spoke up. "She can't wear Shipwreck's Kid's clothes."

"And you need to name her-" The little girl gave a high pitched puppy bark at all the attention she was getting. "Sounds like one of those small yappy dogs."

"A Terrier, you mean?"

"Terrier . . . How about Terri?" Mutt smiled at the little girl, her tail going nuts as Wet Suit got a spot right behind her left ear. "Terrier can be codename when she gets older."

"Terri it is." All four men and one dog gave their attention to the little girl for the rest of their vacation. Beach Head spent the rest of it avoiding the insane group that he was assigned to. Even if he did admit to himself the girl was cute.

_She couldn't understand what was happening, or why something was hurting her._

_She couldn't complain about the smell, or whyit bothered her._

_She couldn't do anything other than cry as noises overwhelmed her sensitive ears, but no one came to help her. She couldn't say how long she was hungry, how long she'd gone without drinking something._

_Finally someone answered her cries, picking her up out of the dumpster she'd been thrown in._

_She didn't know who soothed her, or gave her something to eat/drink._

_She was only two years old when her mother threw her into a dumptser because she didn't want the tiny freak she gave birth to anymore._

_So soon after coming into the world, she was an Outcast._

The winners of the betting pool of who would be the first unlikely father after Shipwreck (Flint and Lady Jaye didn't surprise anyone, and they all agreed he wasn't a bad father) were Raven and Slipstream. They won a box set of the series J.A.G.

But the real confirmation that Mutt was never going to give up the little girl was when the group was on the beach and little Terri, in Wet Suit's hold after having fun in the shallows, reached for Mutt and said, "Rraddy!"

Dial Tone had trouble from both Mutt and Junkyard when he made the comment, following up on an old joke from the nineties, that now Shaggy and Scooby-Doo had Scrappy to complete the set.

**About Terri . . . originally, she was found by the outcasts and went to Mutt after they were found, but the story never quite worked right, so I just went ahead and had Mutt find her. There's going to be a few more chapters (Two are definetly planned, but I might add a third) before the end. As for the Scooby-Doo joke, well, who else can you compare a Man and his best friend to after they find a puppy like mutant? As for the shower scene, it was based off the movie scene of Three Men and a Baby. **

**Last update for the thanksgiving holiday, so Happy Thanksgiving!**


	9. I'll be there

**I'll be there**

Zarana silently smiled as she sat down on the couch with a couple bags of popcorn. Panthera- or rather, Naomi, was lying next to her, Marina and crash both on the floor as Techno trained her robotic eye on the wall, projecting familiar images.

"_We're off to see the Wizard! The most wonderful wizard of all!_" Long Range was sitting next to Techno so she could lean on him a bit. Marina had discovered that Techno (or Alison, whichever she preferred) could hook up to a DVD player and project movies. Zarana watched as Dorothy and the scarecrow skipped off, silently trying to remember the last time she had actually seen the movie. Instead of the Dreadnok version that had been done for Cobra Theatre with Zanya as a gun toting Dorothy. The Baroness as the wicked witch of the West, Herself getting stuck with Glinda, and Cadet Demming getting the Witch of the east. Zarana had to quietly cough as she choked on Popcorn, remembering the fact they'd actually dropped a house onto Demming. An accident- or so the Baroness claimed. Not to mention the dreadnoks were both the munchkins and the flying monkeys.

Ah yes, the days of slowing losing brain cells were over- she hoped.

"Where does the red brick road go?"

"Huh?" Everyone looked down at Marina. Techno paused the movie.

"Go back to the munchkins." Techno complied, and they reached the part where Dorothy was about to start on the yellow brick road. "See? There's a second brick road and it's red. Where does it go?"

"I always thought it lead to Glinda's place." Long Range spoke up, and Zarana had to quirk an eyebrow at the idea of an assassin watching The Wizard of Oz. "I saw it when I was five with my sister and mom okay?"

"I thought it lead to the Witch of the east's place." Naomi spoke up from where she lay. "Y'know, since apparently East ruled the munchkins."

"Has to be Glinda, she stood on it when she turned into a bubble."

"So? The Wicked Witch stood on the yellow brick road when she disappeared into that smoke."

"No, she was on the gray patch." Zarana had to give a half smile. Looks like some of the mentally stimulating questions weren't going to go away. "What do you think, 'Rana?" Zarana smiled at the nickname.

"I haven't the faintest idea; maybe it's in the book." Zarana smiled. "Let's just keep watching."

"Kay, I want to see if I can really spot the guy that hung himself. Was that when they meet the Tinman or the Lion?" Naomi sat up a bit to get popcorn

"I think it's in-between." Long Range grabbed some popcorn, and Zarana shook her head, amused.

"Hung himself?" Marina looked at Naomi, eyes large.

"Yeah, supposedly one of the munchkins wanted to be the Tinman, and then hung himself 'cause he didn't get it. Or something like that."

"Sounds right."

"Cor, aren't you morbid?" Zarana looked down at Naomi.

"Nah, just curious to know if it's true."

"I can look it up for you later." Techno promised, and the movie started again. Zarana silently pushing away the guilt at not being able to get to Zandar fast enough. They'd stopped for the night since Techno was having trouble hacking Mindbender's files.

Somewhere in a lab:

"I'm cold." A young girl whimpered, even as a boy twice her age wrapped his arms around her, despite being sore. "I want my mom to come."

"She's dead, lil' sis. We're all we've got." The thirteen year old held her close, unable to put his back fully against the wall thanks to two delicate bat like wings protruding. They were still too small to support his weight. Suddenly both were encompassed into large, formerly muscular arms. Lack of food and exercise weakening him, and red fur was starting to grow from his body.

"Shh . . . go to sleep." Zandar watched silently as the two kids pressed against him. He had spent his whole life being all but invisible to everyone. Occasionally even to his own Siblings. Now he was probably unmissed and trapped in a lab where he had the misfortune of being well known. He glanced up at the stark white ceiling. Most movies depicted mad scientist labs as dark and foreboding, when real life ones were equal to hospitals with the smell of cleaning supplies and bright white walls. He hated it. "I'll watch over you two." The children slipped into sleep, and he glared at the cameras that were in the corners of the cell. What he wouldn't give just for a gun and one minute- no, just ten seconds with the man who'd been the one to find the kids. Just ten seconds and BANG! One less bastard experimenting on children. Grown men and Cobra soldiers that got on Cobra Commander's bad side he could condone. But children who hadn't even had a chance to get beyond Saturday morning cartoon evil- forget it. He wasn't that evil. Hell, he'd helped raised his brother's kid, better than what their parents did, which was kick them out after he and Zarana turned ten. "I may not be good, but even I have morals I wouldn't go against."

The next morning (Day, night, hour, week? Time had no meaning to those trapped in the lab) they came for the girl, who yelped as they brutally yanked her away from the other two. Zandar snapped and lunged at the viper, an adrenaline rush giving him strength to break the man's neck. He was very quickly beaten down, someone even using a noose and a pole normally used on dogs to hold him back and down.

"That wasn't very smart . . . you'll just make it harder on yourself and the children if you struggle." Zandar glared at the scientist, named something Russian-sounding, he couldn't remember it. "Just behave, and maybe they won't be . . . what's the saying? Used for fun." Zandar tried to jerk and lunge at the man, but wound up with another noose around his neck.

"Anyone touches them like that-" Both noose's tightened on his neck, cutting of his threat.

"It'll be your fault, so maybe you should co-operate a bit more, hmm?" Zandar growled, but glanced away, giving up the fight. "Good boy. See you in an hour- best make sure you'll still be here." Zandar's arms were forced behind his back, and handcuffed. The poles went into niches on the wall, keeping him kneeling dead center in the cell. It was overkill for someone who was barely able to stand as it was. After the door was shut, the boy moved to Zandar's side from the corner he had cowered in. He was terrified of the men, especially of the electric prods they had, and of their tempers- one of them had broken his leg just to hear him yell.

"S-sorry."

"Not your fault, squirt. It's mine for attacking in the first place- better not try to get me loose, they'll break an arm to match that leg of yours." Zandar shifted so the kid could go back to sleep leaning against him. "Don't worry, squirt, I'll figure something out." The boy very quickly went back to sleep. "I hope . . . Zarana, Zartan, where are you?" Zandar closed his eyes, and then jerked as he realized his cheeks were getting wet. "Help me, please."

In the Dreadnok's Lair:

Zartan collapsed on his bed, scowling at the note Zarana had left, then shrugging it off. Zarana was old enough for him not to worry about her. Besides, it was more for him anyway, especially since Zandar also left to find himself. But it still felt sort of dull around the place . . . oh well, he never expected them to stick around this long, and at least they helped with Zanya, so Zartan didn't need to worry about them anymore.

**It's a small fact that anyone who abuses or kills a child and gets sent to prison is not well liked, if tolerated at all. Because often times those in prison were also abused, and now they have a target to beat up. I believe my dad told me that when we watched a movie that had a child molester and a suspect in the murder of a teenage girl, get beat to a pulp after one night with some of the other inmates of the jail. Not sure how completely true it is, but I found it interesting. I think the movie was like two out of four or something, and starred Tom Selleck as the detective (No clue what the movie is called, but oh well.) **

**I'll get a better explanation of the two kids in the coming chapters . . . if my plot doesn't desert me again. This chapter was kind of dark, but oh well. Now we know where Zandar is.**

Zandar: What, am I your favorite victim right now?

Panthera: Up until the actual story- then she starts making our lives insane, or up until she re-uploads my chapter.

Zandar: Bloody hell.

Long Range: Just don't wish for anything, and you'll be fine.

Zarana: or say 'it can't get any worse' because that's just inviting trouble.

**Hey, I'm not that bad.**

Everyone: Yet!!

Zandar: Please review, cause the sooner she gets some form of suggestion for what should happen to me, the sooner we can get this tiny story done. Wait, what do you mean 'what should happen'?!

**You either get transferred out of this lab to a different one before Zarana gets there, or they get there in the nick of time and rescue you. I haven't decided. **

Zandar: Haven't decided?! My life is in your hands, and you can't decide!!

Techno: While Zarana comforts Zandar, please review.


	10. At the begining

**At the begining**

"I got the codes." Zarana looked up at Techno from where she was helping marina put together a puzzle.

"Then let's go- Crash, think you can handle following Long Range?" Panthera got up.

"I'm baby-sitting?"

"More like crash sitting." Gold eyes danced in amusement. "Let's go."

&&&&&&

Zandar stared at the clock in the lab. Only a few minutes had gone by, but it felt like forever. He wasn't going to survive . . . it hurt too much. He started to thrash and scream, although he didn't realize it. He just felt pain.

&&&&&&

"Looks like the wicked witch's castle." Marina's comment made everyone look at her, then back at the dark colored building.

"Y'know what? You're right." Crash blinked to clear some of the auras. "I don't think I want to go in there . . . the color of it is black . . . and it shivers."

"Don't you mean shimmers?"

"No. Shivers, like it's vibrating." Crash gulped. "I'm not going to be very useful . . ."

"Wait with the van then."

"By myself? No way." Crash glanced at Techno. "Can Techno run?"

"My legs are fully functional. I am capable of just as much movement as Marina." Techno's robotic eye glowed a moment. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's go rescue Dorothy." Panthera smiled. "See you inside." She slipped away.

"Dorothy? I thought we were rescuing a guy named Zandar-OW! Tree." Long Range pulled Crash with him.

&&&&&&

Zandar went limp, faintly he was aware of someone sobbing; he was surprised to find it was himself. He couldn't think, it was like he was wrapped in bubble wrap.

"We'll finish this later, put him back in the cell." As he was dragged back, he heard them talking about a transfer, taking him to a new place, a new scientist. But it was all so far away.

&&&&&&

"We're in." Zarana glanced as Marina's human form shimmered, and then disappeared.

"Best way for me to explain it is I can project a hologram." Marina glanced around. "It's not an illusion, cause everyone can see it, it's not a psychic trick."

"Right, I'm plugged in. Go for it Panthera."

"You know I will . . ." Panthera grinned. Then she slipped through the ventilation system. She enjoyed breaking and entering, and now with a team, it was even more fun.

"Crash and I are in position . . . Ready whenever you are." Long Range perched in a tree, Crash just a branch lower. The two watched the building.

The vipers in the hallway never had a chance. Panthera dropped on them, and very quickly necks were snapped and throats were slit. Panthera hid the bodies and kept moving.

Zarana slipped past the guards on her end with less violence.

"We're in the cell block- how's everything topside?" Zarana and Panthera met at the holding cells.

"We're fortunate that this only had a few mutants and was run by computers and few humans." Techno glanced at Marina who was disposing of the bodies of the two men that had been running the room. Her large eyes looked hard. "Marina . . . you know you don't have any lips?"

"We're in a mid-stakes infiltration, and you notice that now?" Marina looked at Techno as if she was insane. "Are you glitching or what?"

" . . ." Zarana and Panthera glanced at each other. "Guys, argue about this later." Zarana sighed as Panthera started down the hall.

"Only cell that's locked." Panthera stared at the red light above the cell. "Techno."

"Cell block . . . got it." The light turned green. Zarana opened the door and Panthera stepped in.

Zandar managed to push away the pain long enough for him to reassure the children. He couldn't even sit up. He heard them whimper and felt them both press against him. Weakly he lifted his head. A girl dressed in black stood there.

"'Rana, We've got kids here, too." The girl spoke to someone outside. "Hey, let's get you all out of here."

"Who are you?" The boy tried to push his 'sister' behind him, trying to protect her.

"Name's Panthera." She moved forward. "We're getting you out of here. Now." She knelt down. "Can you walk on that leg?"

"Kind of . . ." He gulped. She had blood on her hands.

"What's your name, kid?"

"R-Rick. She's Jess."

"Okay, I need to check on your other friend, Rick-"

"Make it quick! We've got company coming." Zandar lifted his head up. He knew that voice.

"Za . . . rana?" He blinked. Then gasped as the girl picked him up like he was Jess's size.

"And you must be Zandar. C'mon." The girl held him easily. Zandar locked eyes with his twin as soon as they were out. He noticed her shock.

"Oh, what did they do to you?" Zarana stroked his face.

"Reunion later, let's get out of here." Zarana nodded, and scooped up the six year old. "Techno." The door slid shut behind them. "We got the one we came in for, and two others."

Long Range smirked when he heard the group report they were free and clear from the building. He spotted Techno and Marina hopping the fence, and could see Zarana and Oanthera slip through the gate. "Looks like we're in the clear."

"Don't count your chickens till they're hatched." Panthera growled.

"A wise saying." They glanced to see a scientist with several vipers standing behind him. "Now surrender."

"Nope." Panthera moved, putting Zandar down and standing where any assault would have to get passed her first. "You're the one who should give up." Long Range shifted, so he was standing with his right side hidden behind a tree.

"We have you out numbered-!" Machine gun fire wiped out all but five vipers.

"Not anymore." Long Range smirked. The scientist wisely backed off, and ran away.

"I have yet to figure out how you can make a machine gun from a rifle." Zarana glanced at the attachments.

"Trade secret." He undid the attachments quickly. "C'mon, let's blow this place."

"Literally or figuratively?" Zandar tilted his head as he watched the girl and boy. Was it his imagination, or were they flirting?

"Both." Long Range held up a remote. "Want to do our demoltion special?"

"Marina get everyone to the van." Panthera took a gadget from Long Range. As everyone complied, she slipped off.

"This explains why Mindbender was angry about some of his bases being discovered, and a few others destroyed." Zarana tried to ignore the fact her brother was now furry, and seemed inclined to stay curled in a fetal position. "What have you lot been doing?"

"Well- it's been primarily Panthera. She escaped from one of the Cobra labs." Marina patted Jess's head as she handed her a water bottle. "She doesn't remember which one she was trapped in, so she's been sending tips to that anti-terrorist group- G.I. Joe? Via Techno's hacking skills about the ones she knows aren't the right ones- the ones where there's only animal experimentation."

"The joes have a group that helps teenaged mutants, they aren't going to experiment on them." Zarana sighed. "Do you all have trust issues or something?"

"Let's put it this way, you're the first adult we've trusted in a long time." Crash spoke up. "What's taking-"

BOOM!

Panthera and Long Range ran up, both grinning.

"Let's go." Long Range moved to get the passenger seat, and Zarana gunned the engine as Panthera hopped into the back, closing the doors behind her. It was a tense few moments before Zarana got to the interstate and went to a normal speed.

"Everyone okay?" There was a chorus of 'yes' before-

"No, I've got to go to the little boy's room." Everyone burst out laughing at Crash. "I'm serious."

"Sorry, you've got a couple exits before we can get to a rest stop." Zarana put on a red haired wig, she'd worn a similar wig back when she was posing as Carol Wheelder. Deftly, she applied normal lipstick and easily slipped a blouse on over her top. All while driving.

"And here I thought Naomi was the quick change artist." Long Range glanced back at his friend. "You okay? Looked like you almost got hit by some of the debris."

"I didn't almost get hit- Yowch!" Marina had yanked a nail out of her back.

"She did get hit." Marina stated.

"Yeah, one nail out of how much debris?"

"It's a screw actually." Marina was studying it.

"What's gonna happen to us?" Rick spoke up, small bat wings extended in what would have made him look bigger, but now just served to make him look cute.

There was a small pause of silence as everyone glanced at panthera and Zarana.

"You'll stick with us. No way we're going to let those creeps get a hold of you again." Panthera stretched out. "Crash, you want somethin' to drink?"

"No!" Crash had his legs crossed. "'Rana, hurry!"

A while later, all the kids were out, sleeping. Zarana quietly kept her attention on the road.

"Zarana." She glanced in the rear view mirror, looking at the now furry face of her brother.

"What's wrong, Zandar?"

"Nothing . . . just . . . thanks." He moved so he was sitting right behind her. "Knew you'd come for me. I wouldn't have minded the Joes either."

"Zandar . . . how'd they get you?"

"I had an argument with Zartan, before I did that chemical run." He sighed. "One of that's blokes assistants was right there . . . I told Zartan I was sick of being forgotten, sick of being a dreadnok. What it basically boiled down to was I was going to do that mission and then leave to sort out my head. If I wasn't back in a certain amount of time, then I'd gone off on my own."

"And they nabbed you." Zarana whispered.

"My mistake, I thought I was safe . . . I let my guard down." Zandar sighed.

"Why'd you want to leave?"

"You kidding? Zartan always claims his loyalties are to the highest bidder, but have you noticed that Cobra Commander has always been that, especially when the organization's been running on bankrupt?"

"You've got a point."

"I know I do." Zandar grunted. His body was still sore. "Honestly, I've been having doubts since Cobra-la and that nonsense, I just never bothered to voice them." He finally got comfortable. "What about you Zarana? Cobra and Zartan still have your loyalty, or have you finally decided to go for that Joe?"

" . . . I love him Zandar, but I can't run to him just yet. Techno found something that we're going to go after- a sort of ticket for dealing with the Joes." Zarana glanced at the mile marker. "Destro and Cobra commander have something big going on. And it involves creating two types of super mutants to fight for them." Zandar let his eyes move towards Panthera.

"That protégé of yours is one of them isn't she?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Cause, the scientist was talking about a mutant fitting her description as one of the 'Twelve Elite' The only one that got out of the main lab's clutches." Zandar glanced up. "She's numero uno on Mindbender's 'to capture' list."

"How badly does he want her back?"

"Don't know. It's about her healing factor though."

"What about it?"

"To put it mildly- anyone who has their mutation forced on them, mutants and mutates alike, have the possibility of dying or something else equally bad. Healing negates that entirely."

"So they can fiddle with her as much as they like without the consequence of losing her." Zarana scowled. "Well, they aren't going to get her or any of them."

"Agreed, sister." Zandar closed his eyes. "You won't abandon me like this, will you?"

"Would I have this conversation if I was going to? You're the reason I was looking for them in the first place." Zarana frowned. "Take a nap. We're going to have to sort this junk out later."

"Yes, mum." Zandar couldn't help it. He'd watched as the group had all but raided the gas station, 'acting' (although he wondered how much of it was an act) like normal teenagers on a trip with an unfortunate single mom drafted to be chaperone. And Zarana had definitely seemed natural for that part.

"Mum me, I'll lick you the best day you ever had." Zandar chuckled as he curled up. "Love you, little brother."

"Love you too, sissy."

**Yeah . . . this went longer than I expected, partially cause I had trouble ending it. Ten Chapters, nine of them have either names of songs or words to songs as titles. Interlude doesn't (although, Interlude could be a musical interlude . . .) This popped up as soon as I published the other chapter. I have never gotten a chpater sketched and written so fast. And this story is over! Yay me, I completed a story that wasn't a one shot or drabble fic!**

Zandar: I can see I am going to have trouble in the actual story . . .

Panthera: You and me both, what, are we your favorite victims or something?

**Hey, the self heal ability would make it easier to mess with your DNA. And the idea kinda stuck with me after a failed draft . . . And then Zandar . . . Yeah, you're going to be my favorite victims.**

Panthera: Great, we get the angst deal. Who gets insanity and crazed twists to their family tree?

Crash: Don't answer that!

**Don't worry Crash, nothing bad happens to you . . . at least not too bad.**

Long Range: You still haven't mentioned Jess's ability. Just Rick's and the fact Zandar has a new fluffy look.

**Oh, yeah, I did . . . oops. I forgot about her. Okay, real quick- Jess is a mutant psychic. And Jess is short for Jessica.**

Zandar: That's it? A sentence fragment?

**Hey, I discovered that I made three mutants with similar powers to hers and I'm trying to fix it. Give me a break.**

Toad: When are we going to get in on this story? Seriously, you've only just mentioned us as a nameless group.

Althea: Yeah, it's a Misfitverse story, you have to add us sometime.

**I'm being invaded, this is not good! Oh great, here comes Mr. 2D. **

Scott: You're adding nine to the misfits side. You have to add more to the X-men.

**Bye! I'm getting out while the goings good. **

Techno: While our author runs away due to lack of planning, please, read and review and recommend a good sedative. This story will be listed as completed, though she may someday re-upload better versions of the first four chapters, Keyword 'someday'.


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